Emptiness and Avoidance

Neglecting responsibilities and filling voids with hours of television.

Pet “Pee”ve

Tags

gross, nasty, Pet peeves

You know what I cannot stand?

Okay perhaps that is a trick question, as I cannot stand a lot of things. But what I am talking about right now is just plain nasty. And poor etiquette.

Pee-splattered toilet seats.

I mean, come on! If you really must hover, is it really that much work to be considerate and wipe it down when you’re done? Perhaps you should line the damn thing with some toilet paper first like normal people do, instead of sprinkling droplets of piss on the seat and leaving them there for the next person to grimace at and rush over to the next empty stall.

I’m just sayin’, it’s bad manners. Just like toilets that have not been flushed, displaying their unsightly treasures for poor unsuspecting souls who just wanted to relieve themselves. The cherry on top? Seats garnished with pubes.

Goals for 2012 (and beyond)

Tags

new year's resolutions, self-improvement

Read a book a month
When I was younger, one of my favorite pastimes was reading. Nancy Drew, The Babysitters Club, Goosebumps, etc… and then James Patterson books. There’s something so mentally rejuvenating about curling up with a good book in one hand and a warm cup of coffee in the other. As I got older and life got busier, I stopped reading for pleasure altogether. I’ve averaged only a few books a year for the past few years (how pathetic). I’ve missed that relaxing, happy place I’d go to when reading a good book. Time to change that! This year, I will attempt to read one book a month. I was able to read a couple books this winter break. The first was The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot, which is the story of the African-American woman (part white because her grandfather was a plantation owner) whose cells were harvested at Johns Hopkins without her knowledge. Those cells, dubbed “HeLa”, are still being used today for research and were used to create the HPV vaccine. Her children were unaware, and lived in poverty, unable to pay medical bills while their mother’s cells are being sold and used all over the world. It’s a really good book and I recommend reading it. The other book I read was Bossypants by Tina Fey. Definitely not as serious as the HeLa book, but enjoyable to read. My family and I drove to Houston last week, and when I wasn’t driving I was either napping or reading this book. Next on the list is The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman, recommended by one of my professors. I’ve heard a lot of good things about this book, so I’m excited!

Eat/drink healthier
You are what you eat, and I want to be a healthier person. Being a typically poor graduate student living on my own, it’s easy to live off of cereal and take out. When I’m at my parents’ house, I usually eat my mom’s delicious but often times greasy Pakistani cooking. This year, I want to be more aware of what I’m putting into my body and eat healthier. I don’t drink pop often, but sometimes (okay, a lot of times!) I get cravings for the crisp lemony taste of 7up/Sprite/Sierra Mist. I need to find an alternative! Sparkling lemon-flavored water perhaps? I’m debating on whether I should start a food journal and write down what I eat everyday. I think I’d get bored of that really fast.

Work out consistently
There are times when I work out more frequently because I have the time and energy to, and there are time when I don’t work out for weeks. I need to change this and be more consistent with working out. Working out regularly will not only help me lose the unnecessary “softness” I have and reveal abs, but it will also make me feel good. Gotta love those endorphins! I weigh 115 pounds as of today, which isn’t a lot, but for someone as vertically challenged as I am at only 5’0″, losing some of that wouldn’t hurt. My goal is to lose 10 pounds this year and achieve a more svelte figure. As long as I stay motivated, I think it’s do-able. And no, I’m not trying to get skinny. I like my curves. I just want to tone it all up a bit!

Find a creative outlet
This is something that I am seriously lacking in my life right now. Hopefully within the next week I’m going to check out an art supply store and get myself a nice little sketchpad and some pencils, and attempt to draw some still lifes. If I had the time and funds, I’ve looove to take a drawing or painting class, but for now, doodling on my own is a good start.

Organize
My bedroom at my parents’ house is a  d i s a s t e r. I blame this on my lack of sufficient storage space. My closet and drawers are full of ancient crap that I need to go through and sort out. My best friend and sisters call me a hoarder, but I like to think of myself as a person who likes to hold on to items of sentimental value . In any case, I need to go through it all and de-clutter my room! I also really need to organize all my school stuff.

Improve Spanish skills
The four years I spent learning Spanish in high school and watching Jamie go about her adventures in Oaxaca, Mexico in La Catrina is being wasted. I need to re-learn Spanish and practice my conversation skills. Not only would it be awesome to just know another language well, it would be a great asset to me in my field (school psychology) to be able to speak both Urdu/Hindi and Spanish. I’d be a hot commodity! I gotta dig up my old workbooks from the basement…

Pray
Spirituality is very important to me, and I feel that I have not been devoting the time that I should be on mine. When I pray, I feel a sense of peace, and that is something I can definitely use more of. For some spirituality may not do too much, but for me, it makes me feel complete and gives me hopefulness.

Oh, and I almost forgot…

Stop swearing
I have got to fix my potty mouth! It makes you sound stupid and unclassy, and I often times accidentally swear when speaking to children, and that is a huge no-no. It doesn’t help that I have terrible road rage (or anger issues in general), and the only thing that seems to make me feel better in the moment is cussing at the top of my lungs. This goal will probably be the most difficult to accomplish and may likely take years, but hey, at least I’m intending to work on it right?

* * *

I hope that as the year goes on I don’t lose the motivation to work towards these goals! They are relatively straightforward and nothing too crazy, so I don’t think they should be out of my reach. Hopefully working on each of these areas will help me lead a happier and healthier life!

Hi.

Going to give this thing a go. But first, I must play around and make it look pretty!